Somewhere in the Atlantic, less than one hundred miles off the North Carolina coast, I’m throwing up last night’s dinner onto the deck of our boat. “Have one of those sodas, the ginger will help your stomach,” Mike says. Our boat is heeled and our bow is smashing into oncoming waves, spraying water over our heads. There’s motion sickness medicine below deck, in the...

Places

Somewhere in the Atlantic, less than one hundred miles off the North Carolina coast, I’m throwing up last night’s dinner onto the deck of our boat. “Have one of those sodas, the ginger will help your stomach,” Mike says. Our boat is heeled and our bow is smashing into oncoming waves, spraying water over our heads. There’s motion sickness medicine below deck, in the...

After a year full of natural disasters and infrastructure crises, is Nepal ready for tourists, for climbers? Interviews featuring Adrian Ballinger, Gyan Nyaupane, and Norbu Tenzing Norgay. Photos by Jeremy Rellosa.

The New River Gorge in West Virginia is home to some of the best climbing on the east coast. The other place being Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. Now’s the time when the leaves are turning, and climbing conditions are just right. Some climbers call this time of year “gorge season.” I recently spent a few days climbing in the area. Prior to this I’d...

It’s hard to be mad in the one of the most holy and spiritual places on earth. The Indian Himalaya crane down at you as you wind up the roads to Dharamsala. When the summer heat becomes too unbearable, Indians head north for the cooler weather, high up in the mountains. This makes for a very crowded summer vacation spot. When it’s at its...

Snapshots: Peru (Canon T70)

Recent

With growing attention to Nepal and the Himalaya region, the Sherpa community comes into focus. When you think of a sherpa, what comes to mind? You might picture him on a snowy mountainside, wrapped in a down jacket, braving the cold winds of the Himalaya, complete with a dizzying display of ropes and metal tools slung from his harness. All of these images aren’t inaccurate. Sherpas, the ethnic group from the mountainous Khumbu (Everest) region of Nepal, have become known to Western audiences for their skill in the mountains. The region has lent many people the opportunity to work in the Himalaya, such as with climbing outfitters. Most of them take jobs as guides, porters, cooks, and others. So it’s not surprising that the term “sherpa” has become synonymous with “mountain guide.” While the depictions of Sherpas in media aren’t untrue, often a tourist-heavy western narrative dominates the voices of the Sherpa themselves, leaving a huge community of Himalaya – which is essential to climbing in the region – voiceless and misrepresented. I recently...

The Library

Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen – I’d never read any of Franzen’s fiction, but based on this collection of nonfiction essays, there’s no doubt his voice is descriptive as it is powerful – comparable to voices like Eggers and Wallace. My favorite essay, so far, has to be the book’s namesake, “Farther Away.” It was published originally in The New Yorker, and takes place in Masafuera Island, next to Robinson Crusoe. On The Trail of Genghis Khan by Tim Cope – This book covers Tim Cope’s insane 10,000+ mile journey from Mongolia to Hungary by horse and foot. His writing style is unique, and it makes for a great armchair read. It’s super inspiring – it makes me want to take a trip of this caliber sometime soon. Don’t we all? One More Thing by B.J. Novak – Novak’s collection of short stories is crisp and easy to read – but not at the expense of sharp prose and well-crafted humor. Some stories are two pages and some are two paragraphs. He can really make the most...